The Braves traded Stephen Frazier to the Pirates for saying:
 SF> I don't know what got into me. When you said they tried to get Belle
 SF> CHEAP, I had no idea what you call cheap.
I look at Belle the same way I do the situation with Bonds and Bonilla. Both 
of those players had to go to arbitration on a yearly basis because 
Pittsburgh would low-ball them on their contracts. If Pittsburgh would have 
given both of them what they asked for, they would have signed long-term 
deals and the Pirates wouldn't have collapsed like they did. Instead, they 
chose to fight both of them tooth and nail and THEN to add insult to injury, 
give Andy Van Slyke a raise that he didn't deserve and hadn't even solicited. 
In 1990 and 1991, the Pirates drew, what was for them, an incredible 2+ mil 
fans (That's something that they didn't do during their World Series years). 
After Bonilla left in 1991 and it was apparent that Bonds and others were 
going after the 1992 season, attendance dipped to 1.8+ mil and then dropped 
to 1.6 mil and then 1.2 mil (1.6 if you adjust for the strike). In the first 
4 years of Bonds and Bonilla, the Pirates AVERAGED $3.3 mil more in revenue 
per year than they did in the previous 4 and in the last 3 years for Bonds (2 
with Bonilla), they averaged $4.8 mil more than they did in the previous 4 
and $8.1 mil more than they did before they started playing in Pittsburgh. In 
the years following their defection, the team has seen a dip in average 
revenue of about $3.3 mil per year (based on 81 games). For what amounted to 
$1 mil per player, they could have signed both to long term deals but they 
chose to let them go and the market paid them far more than what they were 
asking from the Pirates.
Cleveland took steps to prevent this from happening to them and several 
players went along with their plan and cost themselves millions in 
arbitration awards to help the team. People outside of Chicago gasped at the 
sum of money that Jordan got but the Bulls ponied up to the bar because they 
knew that Jordan HAD sacrificed a lot of money for the good of the team 
(Plus, I don't believe that Reinsdorf and Krause wanted to be hung from the 
rafters by the fans after they lost him to another team). Albert (And I'm 
sure the others) expected Cleveland to do the same thing, especially since 
they were finacially stable because of the sacrifices that these players made 
for the team. What he demanded was not only fair market value but a little 
payback for those years of sacrifice.
 SF> I'm not one of those. I think he's quite a deent ballplayer, but good as
 SF> he is, he hasn't been what he Indians needed to get the ring.
Let's tell it like it is, Stephen. If it wasn't for an incredible pitching 
performance by Glavine, the Indians might have had a chance rough up Smoltz 
in Game 7 and claim the title. If Smoltz is worth $7 mil a year after ONE 
good year, Belle is worth AT LEAST $10 mil (Let's not begin to think how much 
Maddux and Glavine are worth if Smoltz can command that kind of a salary).
 SF> Sure. They may even buy as many as the Indians did the past five years.
 SF> But ehy will still watch the Series on TV jsut like I will.
The White Sox stand to lose one of their better pitchers but they already had 
a team that could contend with the Sox sans Belle (They were on the heels of 
the Indians until a mini-slump in July and then a slump in September made the 
final margin bigger than it was all year).
 SF> If he can hit them out and not cause them any pain in the field, then I
 SF> think they made a goo d deal. The Indians will certainly get closer to a
 SF> ring than will the Sox next year.
I doubt that. You seem to think that there's a big gap between the Indians 
and the Sox and there isn't.
 SF> He won't have to work as hard at third base in the AL anyway.:)
Is this like your comment about Nomo?
--- TrekEd 1.00
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